Windows 10: Is it safe to delete Win7?

Hi, I installed Windows 10 Pro in 2015. My SSD is running out of room and I'd like to delete the folder "Win7" that was created when I installed 10. Is that safe to do?

:)

 

Is it safe to delete WUDownloadCache?

The phone put it there, the phone will manage it. Yes, it is risky.

 

Is it safe to delete WUDownloadCache?

I have this folder in my SD, it is about 3GB. Is it riksy if I delete this folder?

Thanks

 

Hi Oshad. Welcome to the TenForums @Oshad

If you are asking do you need Windows 7 to re-install Windows 10 the answer is no. Your machine has been recorded on the Microsoft servers and you can do a clean install of 10 using the media Microsoft provides at their download site.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/soft...load/windows10

Ken

 

Thanks, Ken. No, I installed Windows 10 in 2015 and have been using it just fine ever since. When I installed Win 10, the directions were to create a folder called Win7 with various old program files. I'd like to delete the folder "Win7" to free up much-needed space, but I don't want to make programs inoperable. So I guess I'm asking if Windows 10 uses the files it had me put in Win7 during the installation? Thanks!

 

Not to my knowledge. Your Windows 10 is self sufficient.

I was unaware of those directions, did these come from your PC maker? The upgrades I did created a "Fallback" process on its own, as the Feature updates do today. I also used a backup process in case things went down the drain.

As a safety step you could create an image with a tool like Macrium Reflect. This gives you a recovery path.

Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect

or you could rename the folder win7.old and test a few.


Ken

 

I'll give that a try and report back. Thanks!

 

Or you could just 'copy' the Windows 7 folder to a usb thumb drive. Verify the copy and remove the original from your system.

You could run Disk Cleanup and see if it finds your old Windows 7. If so, you just check mark it and follow the instruction to remove it.

This tutorial by Brink will guide you.

Delete Windows.old Folder in Windows 10 Performance Maintenance Tutorials



Jack.

 

First: Thanks for all the help! Even though I'm the admin for my computer, I get this error message when I try to delete the file
.

 

If you are logged in as the administrator I really don't understand why you are getting the error.

I'm very new to Windows 10 so I will not be able to help you with your permission problem.

Sorry.

Jack

 

There is a tutorial on changing permissions. I imagining administrators are already listed.

So I would think Option 5 for this folder would work.

Change Permissions of Objects for Users and Groups in Windows 10

Did you try disk cleanup as listed in a previous post by Jack

 

You can go here -> Add Take Ownership to Context Menu in Windows 10 download it and run it. Then go in file explorer and highlight the win7 directory and right click and select take ownership. After that is done, you can delete that directory .

 

Thanks, again. I was finally able to delete the folder by making my User/administrator account the "Owner" of the folder. It freed-up a lot of space on my 250GB SSD drive, which I use as a program disk with all data going to a 4TB hard disk drive. I just hope I haven't deleted anything I'll need to run programs. So far, so good!